Michael Salisbury to referee Oxford United away clash

Michael Salisbury will be the man in the middle for the Iron's away league clash against Oxford United.

The Lancashire-based official will travel to the Kassam Stadium for his 33rd game of the campaign and his 15th in Sky Bet League One. Salisbury is currently in his third season as an EFL referee.

His first game of the campaign was Lincoln City's 4-1 home win over Swindon Town on the second weekend of the campaign in which he showed one yellow card. Meanwhile, his latest encounter came last Saturday in League One when he oversaw Burton Albion's 1-0 home defeat to Fleetwood Town. He issued four cautions during that game.

He's taken charge of the Iron on five previous occasions, two of which ending as wins and two as draws. The last two encounters was the only defeat at home to Shrewsbury Town almost a year ago. On that day, he issued five yellow cards. Across the five games, he's shown a total of 14 yellow cards and no reds.

Meanwhile, he's refereed Oxford United on three occasions - their most recent being a 2-1 home defeat to Luton Town earlier in the season in which he sent off Shandon Baptiste for two yellow cards. He issued a further seven yellows in the game. Throughout the three games, he's shown 12 yellow cards and one red.

He's taken charge of this fixture once before, but the encounter being at Glanford Park. The tie ended 1-1 back in November 2016, with Duane Holmes' header cancelled out by Phil Edwards.

In 2017-18, he took charge of 38 games, issuing 98 yellow cards and seven reds. So far in this campaign, he has officiated in 32 encounters, showing 92 yellows and four reds.

On Saturday, Salisbury will be assisted by Darren Wilding and David Plowright, while Will Finnie has been appointed as the fourth official.